Youth Exchange “I’m not for Sale”

CEUD partners the Greek association “Future Minds” on the project “I’m not for Sale” (project reference: 2016-2-EL02-KA105-002480) which brought together young people from Lithuania, Italy, Greece, Turkey, Spain, Serbia, Ukraine and Germany for a youth exchange. The project has been supported by the Erasmus+ programme.

The topic of the youth exchange is human trafficking. Human trafficking is one of the world’s most shameful ills-a heartless violation of human rights in which lives are traded, sold, exploited, abused and ruined. No country is immune, and millions of lives are at stake. We must take a united stand, shine a spotlight on the issue, put traffickers behind bars and give protection and support to victims and vulnerable people.” – Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. The trafficking of human beings has existed for centuries. It is a ruthless crime which mercilessly exploits millions of vulnerable women, children and men worldwide. Even today it is very difficult to assess the scale of the problem because of its clandestine nature. Almost every country in the world is affected either as a country of origin, transit, or destination. It has become a global criminal enterprise generating enormous illicit profits, worth billions of dollars per year. This global crime moves where the profits are higher and detection risks lower and which constantly mutates and evolves, adapting to local circumstances and opportunities. Human trafficking is defined as “the recruitment, transport, transfer, harbouring or receipt of a person by such means as threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud or deception for the purpose of exploitation “. (Trafficking in Persons Protocol)Trafficking can occur nationally or regionally, or from continent to continent. No country is left untouched by human trafficking: Europe is a destination for victims from the widest range of destinations; many people from Asia are trafficked to the widest range of destinations, and the Americas are prominent, both as the origin and destination of victims of human trafficking. Trafficking within the same region seems to be the most common trafficking flow. People are trafficked to be exploited in a range of different sectors: of the detected victims in 2014, 53 per cent were involved in sexual exploitation and 40 per cent in forced labor which includes exploitation in agriculture, horticulture, construction, textile production in sweatshop conditions, catering and restaurants, entertainment services and domestic servitude. Other forms of exploitation have been found such as forced marriage, organ removal, illegal adoption and the exploitation of children for begging and as child soldiers. Most countries have now incriminated trafficking with a specific offence in line with the UN Trafficking in Persons Protocol. But impunity remains a serious problem; only four in 10 countries reported having 10 or more yearly convictions nearly 15 per cent having no convictions at all in the same period. The trafficking issue is an international topic which is especially concerning youth people as if more young people were aware of those tremendous facts, more people would be motivated to act against it.

The aim of the youth exchange to raise awareness of the youth about this global problem.